Soraida Martinez is a Latina artist of Puerto Rican heritage who is known as the creator of Verdadism, a form of hard-edge abstraction in which paintings are juxtaposed with social commentaries. Soraida was born in New York City and is also a graphic designer specializing in corporate literature. Soraida studied art at Rowan University, where she majored in fine art with a specialization in design and graduated in 1981; she also holds a Liberal Arts degree focusing on psychology. Soraida calls her art style Verdadism because her paintings are accompanied by her written social commentaries, which are based on her personal life experiences. Soraida has gained recognition and received many awards for her unique thought-provoking and visually-stimulating art style, which she created in 1992 and which addresses issues of sexism, racism and stereotyping while seeking to promote a deeper understanding of the human soul and tolerance.